With the Family Day provincial holiday just around the corner, Jasper National Park is geared up and ready to help visitors and locals share some important family time, while learning to love winter (even if you already do)! This is a great chance to have a new family experience as you embrace the season with some special opportunities during the first long weekend of 2016.
Parks Canada interpretive staff will be on hand at Marmot Meadows with programs, a crackling fire and hot drinks to keep you warm. You will have the chance to learn to snowshoe, fat bike, cook bannock, start your own campfire, prepare a meal in the backcountry and get tons of tips on outdoor winter fun.
These special activities have been combined with our educational winter programming to make for a great all-day outing while enjoying winter in Alberta.
鈥淲ahkootowin鈥� or 鈥淲e are all connected鈥� uses a medicine wheel as a guide to help raise our awareness on how all things are connected. It is like a compass for Wahkootowin; navigating a way to understanding of how everything is related in our natural environment, families, communities, and within ourselves.
First Nations dark sky stories are observations that were shared through the spoken word and ceremony during 鈥淜akasistipiskak鈥�. The stories interlink the sky, the land, and the people with timeless understandings that foster traditional values, strengths, and wisdom. This interactive storytelling program will take place around the fire with tea and bannock.
You can take the dark sky experience a step further with snowshoes. The dark sky snowshoe experience gets a family out under the stars or moonlit skies of Jasper National Park.
For those who like to combine wildlife and cameras there is a special winter safari for you. The Wildlife Camera Safari goes behind the scenes into the world of wildlife research. You will use some of the equipment our experts use, visit a wildlife camera site and learn how these tools help the park better understand聽 wildlife populations.
A special schedule of events is in place for the Family Day Weekend:
Friday, February 12
5鈥�6 p.m.: Wahkootowin (We Are All Connected)
8鈥�9 p.m.: Kakasistipiskak (Dark Sky)
Saturday, February 13
11鈥揘oon: Learn to Snowshoe
Noon鈥�3 p.m.: Learn to Fat Bike with an expert cyclist
2鈥�3 p.m.: Learn to Start a Fire and Cook Bannock on a Stick
3鈥�4 p.m.: Wildlife Camera Safari
5鈥�6 p.m.: Wahkootowin (We Are All Connected)
8鈥�9 p.m.: Dark Sky Snowshoe
Sunday, February 14
11鈥揘oon: Learn to Snowshoe
1鈥�3 p.m.: Learn to Cook in the Backcountry. We鈥檒l get you involved with preparing a meal over
the fire and another on modern camp stoves. The best part: you can sample both.
3鈥�4 p.m.: Wildlife Camera Safari
5鈥�6 p.m.: Wahkootowin (We Are All Connected)
8鈥�9 p.m.: Dark Sky Snowshoe
Monday, February 15
11鈥揘oon: Learn to Snowshoe
2鈥�3 p.m.: Learn to Start a Fire and Cook Bannock on a Stick
Don鈥檛 miss the opportunity to create some family memories to last a lifetime and to share the
appreciation of winter in Jasper National Park with future generations.
Parks Canada
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